Dimitrie O. Paun wrote:
- Remove the columns from the matrix that have no X's.
No X's mean noone is linking to it, and it links to noone. I would like to know of its existance, even if it is unlinked. Let's also not forget that some modules (lpk.dll, for example) are only linked to dynamically (due to circular dependancy from GDI32).
- Order columns by order of importance. That is, the ones with more X's come first.
No, order them by order of dependancy. I.e. - I want to know that if a DLL links to a DLL that is below it in the list, it is a circular dependancy. There is a standard matrix view that looks something like this:
ntdll advapi32 user32 kernel32 msvcrt advapi32
user32
kernel32 X X X
msvcrt X
X
Ordering should be done by the following criteria:
1. If A depends on B, but B does not depend on A, A must appear higher than B. 2. If rule 1 did not resolve relative order, and A has more modules dependant on it than B, A must appear higher. 3. If neither rules resolved the order, make it arbitrary.
These two criteria make sure that the matrix is triangle shaped unless there's a circular dependancy. Also, these rules make sure that modules that depend on other modules and are heavily linked to, such as kernel32, are higher up than modules that depend on no other modules and are not linked to, such as actxprxy.
If you want, I can write some perl to create such a table from the available information.
Shachar